The Southern women's team was smashed 9-1 by a confident Canterbury unit in Timaru yesterday and suffered a 4-1 loss to Auckland in Dunedin on Saturday which could easily have been a lot worse.
Despite the poor performance, Storm coach Rod Rzepecky remained upbeat when asked for his thoughts following the loss to Auckland.
''I thought it was a pretty good start,'' he said.
''We let in a few soft goals during the first two quarters by some superstars. That's what Auckland can do but I thought we stuck at it and kept going.
''We had patches where we were probably a little bit off the pace. But that is what happens when you play a star-studded side like Auckland.''
The talented Harrison sisters scored three of Auckland's four goals.
Charlotte Harrison opened the scoring with a sharply executed reverse stick from the top of the circle. But had Southern's defence been a little less hesitant, the classy striker may not have found space to work her magic.
Some sloppy passing and poor trapping gifted possession to Auckland all too often. And the Storm's defence let Auckland make the play rather than moving forward to cut down the visitors' space and options.
Charlotte Harrison made good use of that space to spark a promising move early in the second quarter. Melissa Simpson had a strong game as well, carving her way up field to create several golden opportunities.
The pressure finally told but it took a superb piece of skill from Sam Harrison to add to the scoreboard. She clubbed in a shot from the most acute angle you can imagine, leaving Storm goalie Ginny Wilson puzzled as to how she was defeated. Harrison was about a metre from the baseline when she made the shot.
It should have been 3-0 when Lauren Spencer failed to trap the ball. SuArn Kwek pounced on the mistake and found herself in the clear. Only some fantastic work from Wilson prevented the goal being scored.
It was one of several blown opportunities by Auckland but credit must also go to Wilson, who was really sharp in goal.
Auckland added a further two goals in the third period. Danielle Jones slammed the ball into top left hand corner after Sam Harrison had left defenders in her wake, and Charlotte Harrison crouched down and deftly angled in a deflection a few minutes later.
The Storm scored a consolation goal through Emma Spratt, who drilled a penalty corner into the net. The trap was a bit clumsy but the strike first class.
''A couple of the connections weren't there,'' Rzepecky said.
''That is what happens when you don't really play much together. The delivery of the pass to our mate wasn't that great. We can work on that.''
The heavy defeat against Canterbury yesterday would have put a crater-sized dent in the side's morale.
